We receive a lot of review requests at The Indie Mine. While I would love to be able to support every indie dev out there with coverage of their game, that’s simply not possible. This also means that occasionally a gem or two will slip through the cracks. Thankfully, every so often one of them turns up again. In the case of Rise of the Ravager, I finally had a chance to play it at a recent indie expo after not being able to squeeze it into my schedule when the game launched earlier this year. How’d it turn out? It’s an impressive blend of many classic game design conventions within one addictive package. To get a sense of what Rise of the Ravager is like, imagine if Missile Command, Ikaruga, and Zuma had a digital baby.

An ancient god is awakening in the cosmos and raining its minions down from the skies.  It’s up to the player to use a cannon and sharp reflexes to destroy the underlings before they can reach the planet’s surface. The twist is that combat is based on a color-matching system. Red enemies can only be destroyed by red cannonfire, blue by blue, and so on. The game was originally designed, in part, for the Xbox 360, so naturally enemies can appear in each of the four face-button colors. Swapping between the artillery is instantaneous and accomplished by pressing one of those buttons or the keyboard should the player opt for that on the PC version. Thankfully the PC version also offers gamepad support.

You and up to 3 friends can challenge the gods themselves.

Not that the challenge ever lets up, but the player is given a helping hand with an upgrade system. Boosts to attributes like firing speed or new abilities like a screen-clearing bomb can be slotted using skill points earned during each stage. Simply surviving will net a few points, but extras are rewarded for taking no damage or destroying the occasional spy machine. After each round, points can be unslotted to be placed elsewhere. This certainly helped when I found out I went for the big boosts too early, or when I needed to refocus on damage for a boss level. Not all of the abilities are exactly clear on how they function or why they should continue to have extra points dropped into them, so the ability to undo mistakes is almost a necessary feature. It also brings just the slightest bit of an RPG element to the table and can help diversify the gameplay depending on the player’s choices.

The upgrade systems allows you to spend – and later undo – points on powerful abilities.

If there’s an area where the game especially shines, it’s that the developers have done a fine job of pacing the difficulty. Enemies of increasing varieties of color are slowly introduced over the first half a dozen stages, giving the player a chance to mentally adjust to the increasing complexity. Eventually the opposition also brings new tricks like firing their own projectiles or releasing smaller minions, all of which also have to be destroyed. RotR nails that feeling of “just barely made it” that is the hallmark of a good shoot-em-up. Rarely did I ever feel overpowered because of the upgrades, and even though I failed a handful of times, I never felt cheated. That was even the case when playing through the game plus mode which is unlocked by beating the campaign.

The thematic presentation of the game takes a lot of its inspiration from ancient Central American influences. The colorful sprites and backdrops reminded me a lot of Zuma, another game that relies heavily on a quick-paced color matching system. The developers have also incorporated a remarkably deep mythology to the world of RotR. Between each stage, the history of the titular Ravager is revealed through brief, almost scripture-like story fragments. Although the core of the game is simple and arcade-like, it feels like a more fleshed-out game by placing it in within this framework.

For those who don’t want to play alone, Rise of the Ravager does include a multiplayer component. Up to three buddies can join in on the campaign at the start of any stage, and having them there adds a lot of fun and strategy to the experience. Boss fights tend to be trials that involve alternating between going on the offensive and the defensive, but having one or more friends means that responsibilities can be divvied up. It’s not all about being a good teammate. Even though it’s a cooperative experience, bragging rights are at stake because the game totals each individual player’s score on every stage. The winner gets to determine how to spend the hard-earned upgrade points. Although the Xbox version is a perfect fit for a living room gaming session with friends, it would’ve been nice if the PC version included an online multiplayer component rather than just the single-screen view.

Rise of the Ravager is simple done right. The developers have taken the best elements of shmups and retro arcade titles and created a polished game of their own. While an extra mode or some unlockables would help to keep players coming back, there’s enough there in the game plus campaign and multiplayer to keep gamers coming back for at least a little while.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using a PC copy provided by the developer for that purpose. Version 1.0.2 was used in this review. Rise of the Ravager is available on PC, Linux, and Xbox, and information on all versions can be found on the game’s official website. 

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Welcome to the world of Valkyrius, a throwback harking back to the days of the arcade and its era of classic gaming. Valkyrius is a PC arcade style shoot-em up created by the one-man studio Iridescent Games. It takes place far in the future where a war between surviving space colonists and rebels has been ravaging space and one which the player piloting the titular “Valkyrius One” must fight to reclaim Earth.

Pretty standard stuff for a shmup if I do say myself. It contains the classic elements of older games such as 1942 and even Gradius and plays like a nice tense bullet-hell. Unlike most bullet-hell games though where you survive by memorizing patterns and using sharp reflexes to bypass them, the enemies in Valkyrius have attacks that will simply overwhelm you and even cover all points of escape and doom your ship. This is where Valkyrius‘ unique teleportation mechanic comes in. Your ship is equipped with the ability to teleport at will. This adds a new dimension to the game as it enables you to make lighting-fast evasions in otherwise impossible-to-survive situations and boy are you ever going to need it if you wish to play for longer than a few minutes. I simply love this feature. Nothing beats the feeling of making precise jumps in order to evade oncoming enemies or even making tactical jumps in order to retrieve that one weapon nearby in order to better take out a persistent foe.

Test your evasion skills using the teleportation mechanic to evade screen-filling attacks

Speaking of tactics, Valkyrius has a surprising amount of depth and strategy in it in the form of obtainable weapons and ship modules. Your score is converted into in-game currency which you can use to purchase different customizations that outfit your ship with a variety of looks and weapons. The weapons include standard machine guns, shotgun-esque spread guns, and missiles. There are also weapons of more powerful and strategic value such as the sword or even the shockwave weapon. The shockwave is a screen-filling weapon that destroys all enemies and even small enemy fire. It’s very powerful but extremely hard to come by. The sword is an energy beam that projects out the front of your ship and can be “swung” around you in a 360 degree arc.

These can be very powerful indeed but nothing changes your play style and strategy more than the modules with which you can outfit your ship once you purchase them. These modules include destroying all enemies on screen once you are killed or making your shield impervious to small enemies and missiles. Among the other modules, my personal favourite by far is the power warp which allows you to damage enemies by warping over them. By choosing different modules you can easily change how you approach the game and how you strategize your attack. Pick the diamond shield and use it to simply plow through smaller enemies and laugh at the missiles they fire at you, or pick the power warp and turn your evasion skills into a formidable offensive weapon. Pick your favourite according to your style of play and dominate the battlefield.

Large, unique bosses will test your fighting skills

As for the game itself I found it an amazingly fun experience. The varied enemies make things challenging, and each stage has a unique end boss which will really test your abilities. Each stage is different and most have interesting and dynamically changing environments. One moment you are fighting over a large sea taking out enemy fleets and the next you are actually giving chase to an enemy submerged underneath the water. A few stages even nix the top-down approach altogether and you are basically doing a free-fall plummet into the heart of an underground enemy fortress. There were many moments where I was simply in awe while I marveled at the changing environment as the soundtrack blared on in a very fitting rock-themed tempo. I loved the soundtrack and each stage has its own track. While all the tracks are different in their own right, they fit in very well with the game and blended well in tune with the game play.

Fight enemies on land, sea, and even space

Do not think for one minute though that the experience is over once you have beaten it. The game comes with a plethora of unlockable goodies including new game modes, harder difficulties, the amazing soundtrack, and even concept art. There are also a large number of medals which you can achieve by beating challenges. These go from easy challenges just for beating certain levels, up to challenging ones like beating the game on the hardest difficulty without using continues or even without firing your weapon. How? I have yet to have the gall to try and attempt them, but I will certainly give it a shot. These challenges will ensure you keep coming back to the game for more fun and chaos.

So yes, it is safe to say I enjoyed this title very much. I had a blast with the challenging game play and the teleportation gives the game a nice twist. The soundtrack is spot-on and the content just keeps you coming back for more. I do have a few minor complaints but these are mainly personal opinions. The weapon pickups can be frustrating at times. If you have a load-out that you are comfortable with it can be ruined by attempting to reload or by accidentally touching a different weapon pickup and replacing a needed weapon. The art is nice and crisp with varied enemies and boss designs, but the story is very cliche and not very original or interesting. The game does have a nice feature which I wished more games came with and that is the ability to turn the story mode off. Simply go into the options at any time and turn off the story to have no more interruptions and get into the midst of the action much faster. The game, while on PC, does have gamepad support and I highly recommend using one as the controls just feel perfect for a gamepad. I played the game with my USB XBox controller and the controls were  tight and very responsive. You will also need a gamepad if you wish to play the local co-op mode that it comes with, so if you want a buddy to join in the fray you will need to acquire a few of them anyway.

As of this writing Valkyrius has not been given a release date or price yet, the game has a page at Steam Greenlight so it can gain a nice wide PC launch but it has been recently announced that it will be published by Green Man Gaming. No other dates or info has been announced but voting is still open on Greenlight and I would advise each and every available person to vote for this great game. I would highly recommend picking up this game once it launches. Iridescent Games have a great and amazing game and I wish them the best of luck at launch.

Visit the Valkyrius Main Page
Vote for the game at its Greenlight page

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

What does this score mean?

 This game was reviewed using a copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Spanish developer DreamSoftGames has announced the release of their shmup(shoot-em-up) Arkhelom 3D for PC.  Inspired by classic games in the genre, DreamSoftGames promises horizontal, vertical and side-scrolling levels, over 70 types of enemies and bosses, 22 levels, an online world ranking, the ability to upgrade your ship, and more.

Arkhelom 3D is available now on Desura for $5.50.  While you’re thinking about picking up the game, check out the trailer below that shows off the frantic gameplay and ship upgrades.  There’s also a demo available on the Arkhelom website.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.